II. The Future of the Goleta Valley's Agriculture

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1 II. The Future of the Goleta Valley's Agriculture rban agriculture has a time-honored and special place in the Goleta Valley. Most Goletans appreciate the benefits urban farms provide: productive open space, a connection to the land, fresh food and flowers, a personal relationship with the farmers, and the trust that comes from watching them work are but a few. Despite these benefits, urban agriculture is disappearing from the Goleta Valley at an alarming rate; over 1,000 acres in the last three decades. Heavy demand for housing and commercial development and resulting high land values pressure some farm owners to seek development options for their properties. Community efforts in the next few years can shape the future of urban agriculture and the way of life it provides for thousands of residents and local neighbors. In the upcoming months and years the citizens of the Goleta Valley will face some tough decisions about land use and growth. These questions will be raised soon: the new Goleta City Council will begin drafting the City's General Plan, the County is reviewing development potential in the unincorporated Goleta Valley (and the rest of the county) in the Housing Element update, and these both occur as the state allocates mandated housing levels. The South Coast cities and the County must determine where to accommodate that housing. What will Goleta look like in ten, twenty, thirty years? How much will the population grow, and where will the people live and work? What open places, including our fertile and productive farmland, should remain and which could be better used for housing or commercial development? If the public and their representatives on the City Council and Board of Supervisors decide that particular places should remain in their current status, how can we ensure that they do? Goleta s Remaining Farmland Area of urban Goleta zoned for Agriculture Total land under cultivation Land farmed by owner Land leased to others Main crops 920 acres Approximately 679 acres (includes some urban farmland that is not agriculturally-zoned) Approximately 450 acres, about twothirds* Approximately 229 acres, about onethird* Lemon, avocado and cherimoya orchards, organically grown vegetables and strawberries, and flower and nursery crops * Estimate based on farmer interviews; percentage leased closely parallels county and statewide statistics for owner-operators Goleta Valley Urban Agriculture Newsletter 5

2 6 The Benefits of Urban Agriculture While the climate and soils make growing conditions in Goleta unique, it is the urban context of these farms, close to where people live and work, that make them a special community amenity, one that most towns with even less exceptional farming histories would envy. Urban farms: Provide nearby residents with locally grown produce. Food from local farms is fresher because it does not need to be shipped long distances to consumers. Flowers are fresher and last longer. Saving on transportation also saves energy. Provide productive open space, views and rural community character. Sustain the Goleta Valley's farming heritage, helping to protect what is unique about the area. Contribute to water and air quality, help control flooding and recharge groundwater. Provide habitat for many species of wildlife. Provide jobs. Educate future generations about farming, the source of our food, and the link between land and sustenance. City schoolchildren have been known to answer the supermarket when asked where food comes from. Provide landowners an economic return on their land without having to develop or sell it. Gross revenues for a successful growing season can range from a couple of thousand dollars to tens of thousands of dollars per acre for fruits and vegetables, to hundreds of thousands of dollars per acre for intensively cultivated, exotic and fragile flowers and ornamentals, as listed in the Agricultural Commissioner's Annual Crop Report. (Net income is much lower after production costs are subtracted; generally speaking, the higher the crop value the higher the costs in labor, inputs and infrastructure.) Provide "food security": If transportation systems that bring food from farming regions are compromised, local farms will be able to feed local citizens. As at Fairview Gardens where row crops grow between rows of fruit trees, urban farms with limited space sometimes produce more food per acre than larger, more "industrial" farms in rural areas. Goleta Valley Urban Agriculture Newsletter The Economic Importance of Goleta Agriculture Goleta s agriculture contributes to the valley s strong economic base through employment and revenue generation as well as the boost to property values provided by nearby farmland s open space and community character. Based on acreages of different crops and average countywide revenues for those crops, Planning and Development estimates that local farming revenues are in the tens of millions of dollars per year. Gross revenues range from a couple of thousand dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars per acre for a normal year, depending on the crop. Agriculture employs about 1,000 people or three percent of Goleta s workforce, about on par with the finance, insurance and real estate sector and the wholesale trade 1. Agricultural wages are generally above those for retail jobs but below those in most other Goleta industries. Total Agricultural Value for Santa Barbara County $800 $750 $700 $650 $600 $550 $500 $450 $400 $350 (in millions) *Severe drought Goleta's rich farmland and generally high value crops contribute to this strong upward trend in countywide agricultural value. Source: Santa Barbara County Agricultural Commissioners Reports The revenues estimated above are even further increased when an economic multiplier effect is applied; landowners and farmers spend those revenues on farming and business support services, and many of the employees shop and rent in Goleta. Profits from farming in Goleta are more likely to be spent locally than those of larger farms outside of the urban area, some of whose corporate owners are based out of the county. 1 Source: UCSB Economic Forecast Project, Goleta Valley Economic Update 2002

3 Threats to Urban Agriculture Many of the local farmers interviewed for this report (see Section III: Profiles of the Goleta Valley s Urban Farms) spoke of the challenges of farming in an urban area in addition to the benefits. These included the cost of a water meter and water bills for those without wells, the lack of affordable housing for laborers, and more complex neighbor relations. These challenges have for the most part been overcome by the farmers in the Goleta area, and they generally agree that the benefits of farming in Goleta's climate, with the proximity to market and the longtime ties to the community, outweigh the challenges. What threatens Goleta's urban agriculture is a market that values housing over agriculture land. Nearly 80,000 people live in the greater Goleta Valley, and although the rate of housing production has declined on the South Coast since 2000, the area continues to attract new residents. Santa Barbara County estimates that if the trends of the last ten years continue, the Goleta Valley's population will top 110,000 in the year That number may be higher if other South Coast communities cannot accommodate their own anticipated population increases. All of those people will need places to live and work, schools to attend, and parks and open spaces in which to play. If the trend continues and estimates prove correct, the Goleta Valley will run out of vacant residentially zoned land by the year Farms within the urban boundary have historically been the place to look for more room to build. Since 1967, over 1,000 acres of farmland in Goleta have been developed. With just over 1,000 acres remaining (one-third of them in the new City of Goleta) it may not be long before the acreage left succumbs to the same pressures that brought the demise of other farms. But if the Goleta Valley plans well for the space that's left, people can be accommodated as well as farms. 1 Santa Barbara County Planning and Development estimate based on last ten years' rate (1990 and 2000 US Census data), extrapolated to Development encroaches on farmland in western Goleta. The Sonoma County Agricultural & Open Space District In 1990, Sonoma County voters seeking to preserve the county's rural character approved a quarter-cent sales tax to establish and fund the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District. The District, which has collected approximately $80 million since it opened, has, in partnership with willing landowners, protected about 27,000 acres at a cost of nearly $45 million. The District's primary tool for acquiring interest in land is the conservation easement. Goleta Valley Urban Agriculture Newsletter 7

4 Protecting Urban Agriculture The County protects urban agricultural land through adopted land use policies that discourage conversion of productive agricultural land to other uses; agricultural zoning; the Right to Farm Ordinance; and the disclosure of impacts that development projects could have on urban farms provided in environmental impact reports and other documents required by the California Environmental Quality Act. While agricultural zoning combined with the County s strong farmland protection policies are an effective way of preserving urban agriculture, they may not be effective enough to provide permanent protection given the intense pressure to urbanize as open land becomes increasingly scarce. Other effective tools for long-term protection include the state s Williamson Act, which provides farmers with tax reductions in exchange for keeping their properties in agriculture for a minimum of ten years, and creative programs such as agricultural conservation easements and transfer of development rights. Both of these programs permanently protect agriculture while providing the landowner some return on the market value of their property. Rules and regulations aimed at agricultural protection are not the only methods to help preserve agricultural lands. Decision makers (i.e. the City or County Planning Commission, City Council, or County Board of Supervisors) can also use planning options such as compact development and selective siting to reduce the pressure on agricultural lands: Outward expansion of the urban-rural boundary could potentially take pressure off of urban agriculture but would create urban and suburban sprawl, bringing all of the land use, quality of life and resource problems associated with sprawl to the rural areas. In addition, this strategy would increase pressure on rural farmland adjacent to the urban area. Selective Conversion of smaller or lower-priority farms will keep the pressure off of the more important farm areas, at least in the short term. There are two basic criteria that can be used to rank urban farmland in order of priority for protection: 1) agricultural value, which must be assessed using such factors as productivity, soil quality, water availability, equipment access, visibility and size, and 2) suitability for development, which should be based on proximity to transit, jobs, shopping and recreation as well as availability of services like sewer lines and utilities. As stated above, the more compact and efficient development is, the less land must be taken out of agriculture and open space to accommodate it. Once the farmers, landowners, the public and their representatives have decided if and where to focus their efforts to maintain urban farming, they can choose the most effective agricultural protection tools for each situation. 8 Increasing density of residential development means more housing takes up less acreage. There is growing awareness of the benefits of welldesigned compact development among residents and urban planners. In addition to easing development pressure on farms and open space by using land more efficiently, dense development can significantly reduce traffic and air pollution. When people live at higher densities, they are more likely to walk, shop locally, and get to know their neighbors. Compact development is considered by many to be central to the notion of a livable and sustainable community, and it is the natural antidote to urban sprawl and loss of local open space. Goleta Valley Urban Agriculture Newsletter

5 Tools for Protecting Urban Agriculture Comprehensive Plan Policies The Comprehensive or General Plan documents a city or county s goals and policies for development. The plan consists of many elements, some mandated by the state, such as Land Use, Circulation and Housing, others optional. Santa Barbara County has an Agricultural Element which, along with the Land Use Element, contain policies for protecting and preserving agriculture. While policies contain strong language, each allows the decision-makers some flexibility to approve or deny conversion of agricultural lands at their discretion. See policy language on page 4. Agricultural Zoning Under agricultural zoning (i.e. the County s AG-I zones), most uses related to farming, including one to two residences, are generally allowed without permits or with a simple over the counter permit. Intensive agricultural uses such as hog farms, those requiring labor camps and some non-agricultural development such as golf courses or churches may in some cases be permitted under Conditional Use Permits. The Board of Supervisors or City Council can rezone properties by a majority vote. The Right to Farm Ordinance Adopted in the 1980s to protect farmers from the nuisance complaints of residents living in houses built adjacent to cultivated fields, this ordinance was designed to help those buying and moving into the new houses to understand the realities of living near active agriculture. Conflicts can include noise generated by farming, whether from roosters crowing, workers radios, trucks or tractors, and dust or odors drifting from the farm onto neighboring properties. Impacts from residential areas on farms can be just as serious, including pets getting onto the farm and damaging crops or harassing livestock; people stealing or damaging produce or equipment, or dumping trash on the farm; and general trespassing with the liability concerns that come with it. Agricultural Conservation Easement This is a legal agreement between a landowner and a qualified organization (usually a land trust or a government agency) that permanently limits a property s uses in order to protect its values, whether they are historic buildings, biological resources or, in this case, productive and fast diminishing urban agricultural land. The value of the easement is the difference between the land's value with the easement and its value without it; this amount can be either written off as a charitable donation or collected as cash. The money usually comes from grants or donations. An easement can also result in property tax savings. A conservation easement can be essential for passing land on to one s heirs, because reducing the land's development potential lowers estate taxes. Conservation easements are the best and most permanent practical way (outside of buying land outright) to keep land in agriculture. Goleta has one example of an agricultural conservation easement; see Fairview Gardens, page 25 in Section III. Williamson Act The Williamson Act was established by the State of California in 1965 to encourage long-term farmland preservation. Also known as the California Land Conservation Act, it is designed to give tax relief to farmers who decide to keep their properties in agricultural production. Although the incentive program was designed for larger farms and ranches it can be applied to smaller plots of land within the urban area if they meet certain criteria 2. Almost 75 percent of the county s rural farmland is currently under Williamson Act contract. There are presently no parcels under Williamson Act contract in urban Goleta. Transfer of Development Credits Transfer of Development Credits (TDC) programs use market forces to promote conservation in high value natural, agricultural, and open space areas and encourage growth on land more suited for it. In a TDC program, a community identifies areas within its boundaries, which it would like to see protected from development (sending sites) and another areas where the community desires more urban style development (receiving sites). Owners of the sending sites are allocated development credits which can be sold to developers, speculators, or the community itself. In return for selling their development credits, the landowner in the sending zone agrees not to develop their land. Meanwhile, the purchaser of the development credits can apply them to develop at a higher density than otherwise allowed on property within the receiving zone. While the Goleta Community Plan identifies potential sender and receiver sites, the County has not adopted a TDC program. CEQA This 1970 California state law requires state and local agencies to identify the environmental impacts of projects and avoid or mitigate those impacts, if feasible. Impacts to agricultural land must be part of CEQA review. Every development project that requires a discretionary governmental approval will require at least some environmental review pursuant to CEQA, unless an exemption applies. An environmental impact report (EIR) is the most comprehensive type of environmental document. A project may not be approved as submitted if feasible alternatives or mitigation measures are able to substantially lessen the significant environmental effects of the project. However, even a project with significant and unavoidable impacts can be approved if the decision makers can find that it has an overriding public benefit. CEQA is not truly a tool to protect agricultural resources, however the public information that environmental documents provide can help alert interested parties to threats to urban agriculture. 2 See the County s Uniform Rules for Agricultural Preserves, available at Planning and Development offices, for more information Goleta Valley Urban Agriculture Newsletter 9

6 What You Can Do Urban agriculture can be a viable, vibrant enterprise, and one that merits long-term protection where appropriate. Urban agriculture is important not only for the income it produces for the farmers, but also for the myriad less measurable values it creates for the residents of neighborhoods where urban agriculture exists. The residents of the Goleta Valley should begin thinking about the trade-offs involved with protecting or developing our remaining urban farms. It is essential that the community then participate in the planning process, by making their concerns known and by taking part in the drafting or updating of community and general plan policies and land use and zoning designations. Interested parties can contact local land trusts (see the last page of this report for a list) and talk to their farming neighbors about the future of particular urban farms. Local farms can also be supported in the following ways: The Thursday Farmers Market in Goleta Patronize local farms' produce stands, like the ones on Hollister between Patterson and Turnpike, Walnut Avenue just off of Hollister, and at Fairview and Stow Canyon Road. Shop at the farmers markets on Thursday in Goleta, Tuesday and Saturday in Santa Barbara, and Friday in Montecito. Try a locally grown ear of corn, vine-ripe tomato or bouquet of flowers. Increased business for local growers means more stability. It does not guarantee the farm will be there forever, but it helps. The following and final section of this report discusses thirteen of the Goleta Valley s remaining farms and agriculturally-zoned parcels. 10 Goleta Valley Urban Agriculture Newsletter